Picture Writing

It's the end of the year.  And even if it wasn't, this is a great idea for all grade levels.  At least I think.

I am using this as a "What To Do When Your Work Is Done" task.  Granted if it was the beginning of the year, I would probably do some lessons and practice brainstorming and work together as a class. However, it's not...so I'm not.  My students are finishing their assignments as quickly as they possibly can and then want to play computer games.  Can you see my face?  I'm sure you can because I'm sure you're making that same face.  Like, "Yea, right, sure kiddo.  You do that.  NO."

With writing, especially writing prompts, students can either do many many posts or they can go in depth in less posts.  I tell them it's about quality, not quantity.  But what about the kids that don't love to write?  Or doesn't love your writing prompt?  It is possible that you/I/we have a student that doesn't love to go on vacation/play with puppies/want to give advice to the incoming "insert grade level" or any variety of topics that are possible to write about.

Brilliant idea...CHOICE!  I love choice.  Controlled choice.  Selective choice.  Here are a variety of things to choose from.  BUT...I am not that creative to come up with that many choices.  I admit it. Creativity is NOT my strong suit.  I'm more of a spreadsheet and data and organizing girl.  I need help when it comes to creativity and lots of choices.  So I go to friends and I go to...THE INTERNET!

And look what I found when I was looking for Middle School writing prompts!?!?!?

Visual Prompts

You can search by genre, by grade level, or by topic.  The images vary between asking for a story, a point of view, creating a campaign or a new item, there's fiction and non-fiction, future and past, and so much more.  I love these images and the questions/statements that go with them.  I especially love that I didn't have to create them!

The images (the one above specifically) stirred intense conversations as well as really great writing that showed just how my students opinions and beliefs are being shaped by their families, their friends, and society.

We know that a picture is worth 1000 words, but do we need a 1000 words?  Do we need less or do we need more?  I guess it depends on the message.  And these images are fantastic at asking students to share their message on their interests!

When NOT In Rome...

use @DoInk Green Screen app to get yourself there!

Recently, our 6th graders read Julius Caesar. In years past, the 6th graders were able to put on a production of the play. This year our Literature teacher was new the to school (as was I and a number of other teachers) and she decided to have the kids break into groups and film select scenes instead of acting out the whole play.

Here's a quick clip of some students practicing: https://instagram.com/p/BRbTYv1jyQi/

When the Lit teacher came to me asking if the students could film and edit in my class (technology), I also suggested adding a little green screen action. My walls are painted green after all. We didn't know exactly how it would work out but she was on board!

The groups were given a choice if they wanted to film and use the green screen or not. Then they all went about filming. The groups that wanted to use the Green Screen were given either my iPad or one from another teachers classroom. They took different approaches.  One group edited their video first and then put it into Do Ink, adding their images of Rome in last. Another group put each of their video pieces into Do Ink, added their images of Rome and then edited everything.

The point was...it didn't matter what they ended up doing.  They enjoyed being able to act out what they read.  And those that added the green screen were able to search and visualize what it would have the scenery would have looked like if they really had done the play.

Internet = Truth!

A friend of mine used to (or maybe still does) has an email signature that talks about Abraham Lincoln referencing the truth of all things on the internet.  So let's first admit that the ridiculousness of this signature line is hilarious and I loved getting emails from him strictly for this reason.

Now, lets move on to the fact that there are some people that legitimately believe this to be true.  Not the Abraham Lincoln part (or maybe...I don't know) but the part about whatever is posted on the internet being true.  It's like saying that everything on TV is true or said on the radio is true.  It's not.

Perhaps when these medias first came out and they were revolutionary and unknown and it was FANTASTICAL! (yup...I said it) At that point in time, I suppose it was acceptable to believe that everything that was put out to the world could be believed as true.  We didn't know...but now, we do.
So we can no longer claim ignorance. And it's so important that we teach our children/students that everything is not true and how to differentiate between fact and not-so-obvious fiction.

I recently began working with my middle school students about evaluating the websites they gather their facts from in order to ensure their validity.

Side note: When I said that to them...they looked at me and I was informed that they didn't know what I was saying.  I told them we needed to look at websites and see if the information was accurate and legit.  They understood that.

Anyway...it was kind of a fun series of lessons.  I didn't tell the kids we were working on website validity.  I told them we were working on researching some kind of social justice/current event/make the world a better place website. Of course, I have to model what I expect.  So we visited http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/.

It started with choosing a cause that you have a passion for and ensuring that you are properly educated before you start spreading any message.  So I told them that this particular cause was very near and dear to my heart but I wanted them to be fully educated. Of course many of them were confused having never heard of a tree octopus. It was SO fun to be completely flabbergasted at the fact that they had never heard of this animal!!

Since they didn't know anything about the Tree Octopus, we started researching some basic questions.  Ex. Where do they live?  What do they eat?  How do they breath?  Why are they endangered?  I encouraged them to explore the website and also other websites (not provided by me).

Some classes explored outside the website others stayed solely on the page I gave them.  The ones that started exploring began questioning whether or not these animals were real sooner.  However, they came to me with "They aren't real because I've never heard of them." or "They can't be real because I've never seen one."  To which many other students jumped on board to exclaim that just because you can't see it doesn't mean it doesn't exist...i.e. atoms and molecules.  And the fact that they are only 10/11/12/13 means that they haven't explored the whole world or seen all there is to see.
It was an exciting discussion from a teacher perspective.

As time went on it was very clear that the class was divided as to whether these animals were real or not.  So we finally sat down one day and had a discussion.  No laptops, no computers, no devices.  I very seriously wanted to know what they thought since this was such a hot topic of debate in my classes.  Regardless of what they thought, I needed a solid defense...an explanation of why they felt the way they did.

In the end, I told them that the whole website was fake.  The students that believed it to be fake felt validated.  The students that believed it to be real were frustrated, amazed, and some even thought it was hilarious.  BUT, I got my point across.  Just because it's on the internet, does not mean it is real.

ISTE 2017

*UPDATE* Here is the link to place a copy of my poster in your Google Drive:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1cowNXnDZpa3pJbHOt4lzIPJJJ7eH-Fas_vImmq9U-JU/copy?usp=sharing

Please feel free to share, ask questions, and tag me in ideas!  Thank you!  *UPDATE*

Well I have to say that I am feeling so very excited and grateful!

Last year I attended and presented a poster session at ISTE 2016.  I had attended ISTE 2014 in Atlanta previously.  This year however, I had moved across the country and was starting a new job at a new school (oh how I miss my #collegereadyOH team).  This meant the likelihood of presenting...let alone attending...ISTE 2017 was not great.

I was wrong!

My school has a number of very forward thinking teachers that are not only FANTASTIC at teaching, but are also excited to integrate technology into their daily routines.  They want to reach students in different ways.  They want to make productivity easier for students and they want to provide opportunities for them to explore and learn in a more student centered and creative forum.  They blow my mind daily.  And these teachers wanted to go to ISTE.  So, we sat down about a week before the submissions were due with our principal and said, "What do we do?"  In 30 minutes, we all had ideas for presentations, our principal said "Do It!", and off we set!

December rolled around and that fateful day arrived.  I was obsessively watching my email and Twitter.  I saw tweets starting to talk about going to and presenting at #ISTE2017.  I held my breath and checked my email.  Of course it just had me go to the ISTE website.

Well by this point I had to breath.  I'm not a fish.  But my heart was pounding with anticipation...

SUBMISSION ACCEPTED!!!

I jumped out of my seat.  I texted my principal.  I texted the teachers.  I texted my friends from Ohio State.  I texted my mom.  I texted my husband.  (Not in that order necessarily...but possibly.)

I heard back from some of the incredible teachers I work with and they had their submissions picked up TOO!!!

WE'RE GOING TO ISTE 2017!!

I am beyond excited to be going to Texas this summer.  I'm so excited to be able to share the experience that is an overwhelming learning and connecting opportunity with these incredible teachers.  To say that I am blessed is an understatement.  Two years in a row to go with teachers that I want nothing more than to work with and learn from and be able to share what I am so passionate about with others....

I can't even finish that thought I'm so excited.

Will I see you there?  #ISTE2017

Instagram Lessons

If you know me, you know I'm a HUGE supporter of social media in education.

Yes, there are things about it that are not awesome, but just with everything else in life, it's about how that "unawesomeness" (yup I made that a word) is handled.  I firmly believe in teaching how to use social media appropriately.  I firmly believe in modeling appropriate ways to use social media.  I firmly believe in logical consequences.  I firmly believe in parent participation.

All that in mind, I'm here to talk about Instagram.  I have a professional Instagram account and a window in my classroom that is decorated like Instagram.  The window shows pictures of students doing interesting projects in technology.  It also shows my professional Instagram handle.  The kids (all ages) enjoy coming in and seeing if they made the Instagram window.  This interest in their own pictures extended on my real Instagram because yes, there are pictures of them on my Instagram.

*disclaimers* I do not post pictures of students who's parents did not sign the media release.  I do not post pictures of students who are not comfortable.  If I catch a funny picture of a student, I ask their permission before posting.  I monitor who follows and likes my pictures CLOSELY.  If someone follows or likes my images and there is no indication they are a parent or an educator, they are blocked...for the safety of the children.

Knowing that my audience was growing and it was growing with students, I decided to take the opportunity to do more than just post their pictures.  I took a queue from Your School Rocks...So Tell People authors Ryan McLane and Eric Lowe.  I started posting pictures with inspirational messages and life skills.  I try not to write much in the description.  Knowing how I scroll through Instagram, double tapping cute pictures, not reading much, I keep that in mind with the kids.

Ultimately, one day, I'd like the kids to interact and write back.  But for now, when someone likes a post, I feel like the door of communication is opening.  I feel like maybe they know that despite keeping a structured classroom with high expectations (which they CLEARLY do not always love), I do care and I do value what they feel is important.

Another style of image that I tried using was a picture of an upcoming lesson.  I thought that this was an AMAZING idea!  Can I just say #fail.  Not realizing that 1) not all of my students follow me so they don't all see what I post, put a bit of a damper on the idea and 2) I teach every grade level different so the kiddos didn't really know who the picture was directed.  I tried that once and haven't done it again.  I would like to tweak it and revisit that idea, but for now, not so much.

The most fun posts, are the silly ones though.  I will at times, post random pictures to try to make the kids laugh or remind them of something good.  The last one was an alarm clock on a 3 day weekend and I reminded them that they didn't have to be at school!  What kid doesn't love that reminder?  

I also make sure to have specific #hashtags for different types of posts.  It's a way for me to stay organized and keep track of how many posts I make a week of a different style.  I don't want the kids to get overwhelmed or irritated with what I post.  My goal isn't to be what they ALWAYS see.  My goal is to be a positive example of social media and life skills when they do see my posts.

If you'd like to check out my professional Instagram, you can find me @EBGtech.  It's also just to the right of this post.

What do you think?  Would you use Instagram to teach, communicate, reach your students?

Virtual Field Trips

You know background knowledge is kind of important.  I mean....I think it is.  Especially for the younger kiddos who are just learning about the world outside of the little neighborhood.

So when they start learning about places like Greece and Rome and France and Great Britain...it's all (excuse the expression) Greek to them.  They (most elementary kids in my school) have never been outside the US.  So to study about the history of these countries....there is a slight disconnect.

A teacher friend of mine is teaching the American Revolution right now.  She said it perfect, they love it because they know how it ended...because we live in America...this is how we got to this point.  But with all those other countries, you can't necessarily say that.  The kids don't know how it's different from what they studied because they haven't experienced it.  And in all reality...many won't, for many years.

Here is where vacation planning came in for me.  No, I'm not having them plan a vacation.  (Well I actually had the 6th graders plan a trip to Greece.) But I found some websites that give the kids a tour of famous tourist spots in the country that they are studying.  When going on a vacation, you may want to see where you're going to visit.  What about when you're studying a country, you should see what it looks like now compared to what it was.

Are you studying Ancient Greece?  Try a Greek vacation website: http://www.greecevirtual.gr/
Are you studying Ancient Italy? Try a Roman vacation website: http://www.touritalynow.com/virtual-italy-tours or http://www.youvisit.com/tour/rome
Are you studying England?  Try a London Virtual Tour: http://www.visitlondon.com/discover-london/london-virtual-tour#zwHZOJL4xVSPhEP0.97

And all of this can be done to a degree on Google Earth as well!

Students can compare and contrast, they can talk about where would you rather live; then or now, they can rewrite history....the possibilities are endless!

Side note: this leads to a great conversation about the fact that websites are not just American...each country has their own.  My students' minds were blown when we talked about the .gr at the end of the Greek website!

Now...where will you go?

Map Scales and Google Earth

Do you remember breaking out your atlas to measure how far it was from your school to your house? Or maybe from your favorite vacation spot to your house?  Of course there was also the obligatory worksheet that had perfectly manicured streets with geometric houses, a school, and a library.  All different ways to learn that on the map, the distance is not real...it is a scale.

Now we're so used to using some kind of GPS (Google Maps is my personal favorite) that the concept of needing a scale is completely foreign now.  Even the kids know how to use a GPS app. The skill of reading a flap map, an atlas, is seemingly obsolete!  But, nope, it's still part of the curriculum - and I'm not arguing whether or not it's important, I'm just stating that it is what it is.

So, in technology the last couple of weeks, we have been learning about map scales (to compliment the kiddos 4th grade curriculum).  Since we have computers and not paper maps, we broke out Google Earth and since we have GPS that gives us EXACT distance, we worked on estimating.

The image of the kiddos searching on Google Earth and getting their exact distances from point A to point B (we also brought in some Nevada Geography and measured the important places in Nevada) was amazing!  They are pros!  Then the image of the kiddos using the rules on the monitor was quite funny.  Who ever imaged that we would use a ruler on a computer monitor?!  Not me!!

They really seemed to enjoy the exploration and realizing that a few inches can be anything from a few miles to hundreds (or more) of miles!!

Up next...longitude and latitude?!  Any ideas?!